Contact Improvisation
Earthdance
is an arts, dance, & movement organization and retreat center in Western Massachusetts, on unceded, ancestral Nipmuck, Pocumtuc and Wabanaki Confederacy Land. Earthdance welcomes guests from around the world to engage in events that center movement and embodied practice, Contact Improvisation, and collaborative art making.
The staff and board of directors are committed to an organizational culture that values interdisciplinary collaboration, improvisational community building, and ongoing devotion to equity, access and direct response to the realities of a greater socio-cultural landscape.
Earthdance is dedicated to building awareness of sustainable living and community building; in addition to arts-focused programming, the facility is available for partnerships with other organizations, institutions, festivals, and rentals that align with Earthdance’s values and culture.
Classes & Workshops
Contact Improvisation
Artist Residencies & Retreats
Community
Earthdance Events
For more events see the full calendar >
Summer Jam! with hosts Alli Ross and Cody Strauss
June 28th - July 5th, 2025
We’re dreaming a jam of joyful connection and embodied expression—where families, movers, and magic-makers of all kinds can gather for dance, ritual, pageantry, and moments of meaning. We hope to co-create something alive, inclusive, and full of heart.
Build & Connect: A-Frame Tiny Home Workshop with the Permatours – REGISTER NOW!
July 24-27th, 2025
Join us in the beautiful Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts to learn construction skills, build community, and dance!
Radical Resonance: A Workshop in Butoh Dance with Julie Becton Gillum – Register Now!
September 4th-7th, 2025
During this workshop, participants will investigate movement and stillness by exploring the body's natural anatomical potential, including floating, hanging, and strings. Exercises from Noguchi Taiso water body practice and aspects of butoh will help remove customary societal and cultural behaviors, guiding dancers toward bodily emptiness. Without the constraints of old habits, the unconscious body can freely respond to sensations, forces, and states of emotions to become a fully expressive body.
Femina Kinetica with Valerie Sabbah – Registration Coming Soon!
September 11th - 14th, 2025
This container offers an immersive time and space to engage with contact-improvisation as a powerful gateway for getting closely acquainted with your personal physiology and kinetics. Carefully curated sessions will blend theoretical knowledge of female biomechanics with the playful study of weight, gravity, momentum and connecting with moving bodies, notorious...
Second Sunday Jam
Potluck at 5pm, Class at 6:15pm, Jam at 7:30pm
Bring your movement gifts to share along with a yummy dish to nom on after class. Let's commune and practice during our sweet jam. And, relax together in the sauna while we rest our bones. Registration not required.
Interwoven: The Axis Syllabus and Dynamic Partnering with Daniel Bear Davis – 3 Class Series – REGISTER NOW!
Second Sunday - Sept 14th & Nov 9th, 2025 - Workshop 3-6pm, Potluck 6:15pm, Jam 7:30pm
This series of workshops, threaded through the year, will ground our explorations in The Axis Syllabus (AS) and Dynamic Partnering Practices. The AS explores details of our own anatomy, refined over thousands of years of evolution, to gain clues about how to move in collaboration with our own fascinating design.
Earthdance Garden 2nd Sunday Community Work Day
Join any time between 10am - 5pm
Come get your hands in the soil...then jam! Hosted by Neal and Shosei, come connect with the Earthdance community. Learn about sustainable gardening, share in the abundance, help us continue building and maintaining the Earthdance garden vision.
Introduction to Rage Club – Register Now!
Thursday, June 26th, 6-8:30pm, potluck to follow
Rage Club is a space to come alive. Most of us have spent our lives being told that it’s not ok to feel Anger—that it’s aggressive, dangerous, destructive, etc. This is an outdated relationship to feeling that keeps you numb and cuts you off from a powerful source of energy and information for your life.
For more events see the full calendar >
Independent Events
For more events see the full calendar >
More Ways to be Here
Host Your Event
With a unique combination of mixed-used indoor & outdoor facilities, Earthdance provides an ideal setting for workshops, conferences, weddings, and special events that seek a combination of focus, celebration, and intimate connection.
Private Retreats: Earthdance is a beautiful and inspiring place to rest & retreat.
Mineral Collecting: Visit the old Betts Mine site to look for minerals.
Experiences
The Value of Earthdance
A relaxing and rigorous environment, that values the pace of the body and the richness of the soul.
Lila H.
What I Learned
Inspired by a community of teachers dedicated to seeking the moving and sublime truths of existence I learned to call on my name as Artist and Dancer.
Michelle L.
Why I Donate
Earthdance is a gem in the firmament! It holds space for deep exploration of one’s current investigation and supports our light spirit as well.
Ted J.
I Love
Part of my joy is just knowing that it’s here, even if I don’t use it as much as I would like. It’s like a local home of the larger dance community. A place to meet and re-meet friends. A place to get physical contact in times when that’s missing from my life – a connection. A place to express emotion. A place I’m proud to introduce people to as a physical center for my community of people. It allows people to have a place for the stream of community members that come and go through out lives. A place of nurturing – be it food, touch, talk, dance.
Anonymous.